Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Printing Odd or Even Pages.

Printing Odd or Even Pages

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 29, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


1

When printing longer worksheets, you may long for a way to print either odd or even pages. Unfortunately, Excel doesn't include this capability. There are a couple of ways you can work around this problem, however.

First, if your purpose for printing odd and even pages is to print double-sided, you might check out your printer driver to see if it can handle double-sided printing or if it will somehow print just odd or even pages. This approach allows you to bypass Excel altogether.

Another way to bypass Excel is to simply create a PDF file from your output. You can then open the PDF file and use Acrobat or Adobe Reader to print either odd or even pages.

If you want to stay within Excel, then perhaps the best way to handle the situation is to come up with a macro that will handle the printing. Such a macro can be approached in any number of ways. Here's a short one:

Sub PrintOddEven()
    Dim TotalPages As Long
    Dim StartPage As Long
    Dim Page As Integer

    TotalPages = Application.ExecuteExcel4Macro("GET.DOCUMENT(50)")
    StartPage = InputBox("Enter starting page number")

    If StartPage > 0 Then
        For Page = StartPage To TotalPages Step 2
            ActiveSheet.PrintOut From:=Page, To:=Page, _
              Copies:=1, Collate:=True
        Next
    End If
End Sub

When you run the macro, you are asked for a starting page number. In most instances you would enter either 1 or 2, but you could actually enter any page number you want. The macro then prints the starting page and every second page from thereon out.

You could, if desired, also print odd and even pages by creating two custom views in Excel—one for odd pages and one for even pages. All you need to do is specify a non-contiguous range of cells (consisting of the cells in either the odd or even pages) as your print area for each view. For instance, if you wanted to define a print area that consisted of the cells for all the odd pages, you could do this:

  1. Change to Page Break Preview.
  2. Use the mouse to select all the cells of page 1.
  3. Hold down the Ctrl key as you select all the cells of page 3.
  4. In turn, and still holding down the Ctrl key, select all the cells of the other odd-numbered pages.
  5. Define the selected cells as the print area.

With the print area selected, save the view. Then wipe out the print area, use the same technique to select all the even cells, and save the view. You now have two views you can print, and each view will contain only odd or even pages. The only drawback to this approach is that Excel numbers the printed pages sequentially (1, 2, 3, 4) instead of what they really are (1, 3, 5, 7).

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (8845) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Printing Odd or Even Pages.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Including Datasheet Rows or Columns in a Chart

Controlling which datasheet information is graphed in a chart.

Discover More

Non-standard Sorting

Information in a cell can be entered using line feeds, which results in multiple lines of data in the same cell. If you ...

Discover More

Shortcuts to Hide Columns

Need a quick way to hide and unhide columns in a worksheet? The shortcuts described in this tip can help fill the bill.

Discover More

Program Successfully in Excel! John Walkenbach's name is synonymous with excellence in deciphering complex technical topics. With this comprehensive guide, "Mr. Spreadsheet" shows how to maximize your Excel experience using professional spreadsheet application development tips from his own personal bookshelf. Check out Excel 2013 Power Programming with VBA today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Changing Cell Values while Printing

When printing mulitiple copies of the same worksheet, you may have a need to change something simple for each of the ...

Discover More

Setting Print Quality

When printing information in a workbook, you may want to take advantage of the different print quality settings available ...

Discover More

Printing a Single Column in Multiple Columns

Ever printed out a worksheet only to find that you have text only at the left side of each page? You can use more of each ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 - 7?

2019-06-05 17:49:33

Dennis Costello

I wonder if, when printing to a "corporate print queue", this macro would lead to a separate print job (each with header/flag and maybe trailer pages). At first inspection, it seems likely that it would - that is, it seems like each invocation of the <worksheet>.PrintOut action would lead to a separate Windows print job.


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.